Australia vs India 2019: Flop XI from the ODI series

India’s long tour of Australia finally ended on Friday. The tour which started on a promising note with Australia upsetting India in the first T20I ended on a historic note for India. After drawing the T20Is and winning the Tests, India won the ODI series 2-1 to register their first-ever bilateral ODI series win on Australian soil. The tour also witnessed the first instance when India flew back from Australia without losing any series on a full-fledged tour.

On Friday, MS Dhoni and Yuzvendra Chahal starred with bat and ball respectively as India won the series-decider by seven wickets. Asked to bat first, Australia came up with a poor effort and were all out for just 230. Chahal was the destructor-in-chief as he picked up his career-best 6 for 42. In doing so, he became the first spinner to take six wickets in an ODI in Australia.

In reply, India chased down the total with four balls remaining. Dhoni was the star with the bat, scoring 87 and shared an unbeaten stand of 121-run with Kedar Jadhav to help India recover from 113 for 3 and chase down 231.

Well, the three-match series witnessed some remarkable individual performances. The centuries from Rohit Sharma, Shaun Marsh and Virat Kohli will be long remembered. Dhoni’s three fifties in the series once again showed that he is still one of the best finishers in the game. Jhye Richardson’s spell in the series-opener while Chahal’s spell in the series-decider were some of the notable performances with the ball.

But at the same time, there were several players who failed to deliver as per expectations. So with the series done and dusted, here is a look at the Flop XI from the three-match series:

1. Aaron Finch:

Aaron Finch’s barren run with the bat continued in the ODI series too. The out-of-sorts Australia skipper failed in all the three games, finishing the series with an average of 8.66. Finch made a pair of sixes in Sydney and Adelaide before having his stumps rattled on both occasions by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Kumar then asserted his authority over Finch by trapping him lbw in the decider at the MCG. Finch finished the series with just 26 runs.

2. Alex Carey:

If Finch’s form was not good at all, then Alex Carey’s was not an ideal one either. The performance of Finch and Carey was one of the reasons why Australia ended up losing the series despite giving the formidable Indians a run for their money.  Australia’s decision to promote Carey as an opener

He got the starts in the first two ODIs, scoring 24 and 18 but threw them away. His chances of making amends in the series-decider was then ended by Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the latter dismissed the opener for just 5. Thus Carey finished the series with just 47 runs.

3. Usman Khawaja:

Before this ODI series with India, Usman Khawaja hadn’t played an ODI since January 2017. However, Khawaja could not justify the recall although he showed promise. The southpaw got starts in all the three games but just could not make it count.

He scored 59 in the opening match of the series, before being run out by a brilliant effort from Ravindra Jadeja for 21 in Adelaide. Khawaja was looking solid in the final ODI and was batting on 34 before a soft dismissal saw him caught and bowled by Chahal.

4. Ambati Rayudu:

This was the series which could have sealed his place at the number four spot. He arrived in Australia after two impressive assignments. On the slow tracks of UAE in the Asia Cup, he scored 165 runs in six games with a top score of 60. In the following series against West Indies, he scored 217 runs at an average of over 62. It included a stunning century in the fourth ODI.

However, he did miserably in the first two ODIs against Australia. Rayudu scored 0 and 24 before being dropped for the series-decider as Indian team-management made it clear he is yet to cement his spot in the playing eleven.

5. Glenn Maxwell:

Maxwell was more in the news for his batting position than his performances in the series. The hard-hitting batsman had come out at number seven in all the three games. In the series opener, he got just 5 deliveries to play before he scored 48 and 26 in the following two games, thus continuing his indifferent displays with the bat in international cricket.

What made things worse for him was the catch he dropped in the series-decider that probably cost Australia the series. MS Dhoni was yet to open his account when Maxwell dropped a sitter in the seventeenth over. Dhoni made full use of the reprieve, scoring an unbeaten 87 to take India home.

6. Ravindra Jadeja:

Ravindra Jadeja returned to the ODI side after a long time during last year’s Asia Cup.  In his very first outing in the Asia, he picked the Man of the Match award after picking up 4 wickets for just 29 against Bangladesh. He also played a couple of impressive knocks in pressure situations as India won the Asia Cup. In the subsequent ODI series against West Indies at home, he finished the series as second highest wicket-taker with 7 scalps.

However, he could not make the most of the chances in Australia. Picked in the team as an allrounder in absence of Hardik Pandya, Jadeja picked up just two wickets in three games while conceding 150 runs. He also failed with the bat in the first ODI, scoring just 8.

7. Kuldeep Yadav:

Kuldeep Yadav entered the ODI series on the back of a memorable Test in Sydney where he picked up five wickets to create history. The start in ODIs was also promising as he picked up two wickets in the series-opener at Sydney.

However, he had a game to forget in Adelaide where the Australian batsmen took him to the cleaners. Consequently, the chinaman spinner ended up conceding 66 runs off his ten overs while going wicketless. India then dropped him for the final ODI.

8. Nathan Lyon:

Nathan Lyon once again failed to prove his credentials in ODIs. Australia’s Test spin spearhead was the joint highest wicket-taker in the four-match Test series against India, picking up 21 wickets.

However, his form in the ODIs was nothing less than a disaster.  Lyon didn’t take a wicket in the first two matches, finishing with figures of 0-50 in Sydney and 0-59 in Adelaide, before being dropped for the decider.

9.  Peter Siddle:

Peter Siddle returned to Australia’s ODI after a long gap of eight years. But the veteran pacer did very little to justify his selection. The Australian team-management made it clear that it is willing to give the pacer an extended rope but the latter completely failed to grab the opportunity.

He played all the three games but picked up just two wickets while conceding more than six runs per over.

10. Mohammed Siraj:

Siraj earned his maiden ODI call-up to replace Jasprit Bumrah for the series. The Hyderabad pace spearhead earned the call after his recent impressive performances. In his last Ranji Trophy game, he picked up seven wickets game against Punjab. He had also impressed for India A during the tour of New Zealand, taking seven wickets in three games.

Siraj could not find a place in the playing eleven for the first game but earned his maiden ODI cap for the second. However, it was a debut to forget. The pacer gave away the most number of runs by an Indian bowler on debut, getting hit for 76 runs by Australian batsmen. He was then dropped for the final ODI.

11. Jason Behrendorff:

With the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc rested for the series, the lanky pacer could have pressed his claim for a regular place in the starting eleven. A good performance in this series could have also put Behrendorff in a good position for the upcoming World Cup.

However, the left-arm pacer failed to grab the opportunity, picking up three wickets in two games before missing the last one with a back injury.

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